Sunday, October 7, 2012

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum...

Deborah Boschert here. We love living in the DC area. On a recent trip to the Smithsonian American Art Museum, I was particularly impressed with a piece by David Beck titled MVSEVM. He was commissioned to create this piece to celebrate the reopening of the museum in 2006.

It's a full scale, interactive, amazing piece of work! It's set in a big glass case so you can walk around and see all the side. I spent quite a bit of time examining every angle. I sure wish I could have opened the draws, pulled the cranks and twisted the gears.

A great example of a "cabinet of curiosities," don't you think?

This video was playing on a side wall near the piece. Beck used so many skills and techniques to create this piece... portrait painting, wood carving, inlayed flooring, architectural design, mechanical sculptures even working with real animal fur.

After watching this video again, I wonder if the real "cabinet of curiosities" is the artist's mind. I can hardly imagine the thoughts, ideas, challenges, skills and experiences that make up the mind of an artist like Beck.

I went to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in September. (Like you, I'm fortunate to live fairly close by.) I found David Beck's sculpture MVSEVM spellbinding -- all of the found and creative miniatures stuck into nooks and crannies. I kept walking round and round it.

I love this. Wow. I think there is something so basic to this kind of work--something that speaks to nearly all of us, that impulse to organize things into little drawers or boxes and keep all those little treasures safe. Doesn't every child do this?

Wow, that was truly amazing!! I admire his tenacity to stick with such an intricate project all the way to completion. All that detail and work, man I am feeling a bit lazy and unworthy! That is truly a detailed person, wonder what the draws in his real home look like?

I love the Smithsonian museums! I thought I visited the American Art Museum last time I was in town but perhaps I missed that one. There are so many wonderful things to see! The video of this piece is AMAZING. I hope this piece will still be on display the next time I am in DC. Like you, though, I'd love to open each drawer and really play with the piece. Thanks for sharing.